The First Year
by wish-i-was-british
Summary: They say it's easy falling in love. Falling in love with your best friend had to be easier, right? They know all your faults, all your evils, and they're still around. Except that it makes everything harder. Because you know that when you fall, you'll fall harder than anything, and you have to decide if that intense, burning love will be worth it. AH. BPOV.


**Chapter 1: September**

"Alright, this is it! You ready to be a big independent college girl?" Renee reached her hand up to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. I smiled.

"Yes, Mom. Don't worry about me, okay?" Renee had just finished helping me unpack and I couldn't get her to leave.

"I can't help it!" She dropped her hands to her sides before pulling me into a spontaneous hug. "I love you," she sighed into my ear as she clutched the back of my shirt.

"Love you too, Mom," I soothed. She sniffled in response.

"All right, honey. Call as soon as you can, okay? Your dad hates that he couldn't be here."

"I will, Mom." She looked at me like I was holding a knife to a puppy's throat.

"Okay, Bella. I guess I'll go. Have fun, honey. I love you." She brought her hands to the purse strap on her shoulder as she murmured her hundredth good-bye.

"Bye, Mom." I smiled as she turned and tentatively walked away. _Finally._

I raced back to my dorm and found Alice sitting sideways in the big red chair in the corner, kicking her feet. Sophomore year, Alice and I used to squish together on it during weekends and mock romantic comedies mercilessly.

"Yeah, Esme! Everything's great. Yeah, she's here." She smiled up at me. "Yeah, she's excited. No, I haven't seen them yet. I'll tell him. Love you, too!" She withdrew the phone from her ear and gently tapped a button on the screen as she jumped off the chair toward me. "Hey, Bells! How's your mom? Tearful goodbye?" She grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into my millionth hug of the day. I wrapped my hands around her tiny frame.

"More like an eternal goodbye. Pretty sure that woman gave me at least 50 hugs." I scoffed as we released each other and I plopped onto the couch next to me.

I couldn't believe I was finally here. My dad had pounded the idea of going to Yale into my head since infancy. I was amazed that he managed to forget today was my first day. I remember telling him I got accepted. He tried to hide his excitement, but I noticed him tearing up. My dad and I never showed much affection, but that day, he trapped me in a back breaking hug.

"She'll be alright. Your dad'll keep her occupied." Alice winked.

I picked up a magazine from the coffee table and threw it at her. "Ew, Alice! That's disgusting!" I missed her and the magazine flew halfway across the room. Typical Bella. Alice's giggles were interrupted by Jessica storming into the room.

"Hey, guys!" She chirped as she sat down next to me.

"Hey, Jess." I greeted as Alice set herself down on the chair across from us.

"So I heard about this amazing party happening tonight exclusively on 3rd floor Durfee." She squeaked. Alice looked up from her nails for a moment before returning to pretending she didn't care.

"Really?"

"Yes! Basically, everyone opens their door and lets other kids come in and party! It's called an open door party. All the cool kids go," she smirked. Yeah, I got into Yale and I'm primarily concerned with being considered a 'cool kid.'

"Creative." Alice mumbled. If it were anyone else telling her about a party, she'd be through the roof excited. But when it came to Jessica, Alice could barely muster a smile. When Alice and I found out we'd been accepted to Yale, she begged Carlisle to use his pull with the dean to get us a room together. He could only do so much, though, and the dean said we needed a third person. The only reason Alice agreed to room with Jessica was because of her amazing party radar.

Jessica shot a glance at Alice before chuckling and continuing to blab about the "completely fabulous" party. She finished off her rant by asking if we wanted to open our door.

"Well, as much as I've always wanted a bunch of strangers in my room, I'm afraid Alice and I will be busy not getting date raped tonight." I smiled. Jessica laughed before slapping my knee playfully.

"You're silly! I promise nothing like that'll happen!"

"What do you think, Alice?" I shot a glance at her.

"Fine with me," she muttered.

"Terrific! I'll see you guys tonight!" Jessica squealed before leaving again. Where the hell was she even going?

"Hate that bitch," Alice growled as Jessica ran out the door.

The party started at 9 o'clock and I was in some sloppy artist major's apartment and already bored by 9:15.

"Hey!" Some guy shouted at me over the music.

"Uh, hi there."

"What's your name? I'm Mike," he smiled and offered a hand.

"Bella," I mumbled as I shook his hand.

"Would you like to dance, Bella?"

"Um..." I started thinking of excuses about a recent knee surgery or something just as Edward swooped in and wrapped his arm around my waist. Mike's expression instantly changed.

"Hey, babe!" Edward greeted as he bent down to kiss my cheek.

"Uh, hey! Where have you been? This is my good friend Mike," I gestured to the horribly embarrassed man across from us.

"Hey, Mike!" Edward put on one of his killer smiles.

"Hi. It's nice to meet you... uh, I gotta run." He started to turn away before he looked back at me. "It was nice to meet you too, Bella." He smiled sweetly before practically running away. I felt like a huge bitch. Edward lowered his head down to my ear as he unraveled his arms from around my waist.

"You're welcome." He whispered and walked over to the drinks table.

The night was pretty uneventful after that. I went back to my dorm at around midnight and found Jasper and Alice making out on the couch.

"Guys, get a room!" I shouted before flipping the lights on. Alice proceeded to flip me off as I walked into the bathroom.

After my shower, I pulled on my fluffy robe and went out to the kitchen to pick a movie and make popcorn. As I waited for it to pop, I sat on the now vacant couch. I could faintly hear some groans coming from outside my door. I walked over to it and slowly twisted the silver knob, not sure if I wanted to know the source of the groans. I was greeted by an interesting scene.

"Edward?" I narrowed my eyes and looked down at the naked man curled up in the hallway. He shot his head up to look at me before his eyes flooded with embarrassment.

"Where the fuck am I?" he cursed.

"Outside my dorm. What are you doing here?" Not that I was objecting. I think I could force myself to look at his perfectly sculpted bare body.

"No clue. Oh, shit. I'm naked!" he yelled as he examined himself. I quickly shed my robe and handed it to him.

"Here." I offered. He looked me up and down and I suddenly became very aware of the fact that it was freezing and my nipples were probably standing at attention. The last time Edward saw my nipples was probably when Alice dared me to run through their neighborhood naked freshman year.

"Nice panties," he nodded at the strawberry patterned boy shorts I was wearing as he stood up and pulled on my robe.

"Shut up, I wasn't exactly anticipating this," I growled. He laughed at me. "Are you drunk?"

"Erm, slightly?" he raised an eyebrow. Edward never got drunk, he never partied, he never fucked girls for fun like every other high school guy. I always revelled at the fact he was considered a popular kid when he did literally nothing all the other jocks did. "Emmett and Jasper made me," he added.

"Oh, man, what torture!" I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up," he growled as he wrapped his arm around my neck. "Lead the way, kid," he said with a smile. I walked him into my dorm and he sat down on the couch as I retrieved my popcorn from the microwave. I offered him some and he proceeded to spend 5 minutes attempting to grab a handful and effectively touching every single piece.

"Nice," I teased, and set the bowl on the table in front of me.

"You can still eat it. I'm clean I promisseeeee," he smiled, holding up his hands.

"You don't know where you've been tonight, and neither do I," I giggled in response.

"Were you going to watch a movie?" He asked as he lifted his feet onto the coffee table.

"Yep. Picked a good one too," I smiled as I held up _The Princess Bride. _He grinned in response and ordered me to put it in. I obeyed and then cuddled up next to him. I missed these movies nights with him.

I had befriended Alice originally, but Edward and I just... clicked. Everything came so easy for us. Ever since we met in freshman year, Alice, Edward, and I have inseparable. Everyone at our high school had thought it was weird Edward and I weren't dating, but our friendship was too precious to both of us.

Edward stretched his beefy arm across the back of the couch and grabbed a strand of my hair, wrapping it around his fingers like he always did, as he stared intently at the screen. I couldn't help but look at the contented look on his face. I stared for probably longer than a normal person would, and he shot a glance at me as I quickly averted my eyes.

We were too good of friends to date, right? It would ruin everything. But that didn't mean I couldn't look.

**A/N: Read and Review! I'm new at this so sorry if I'm totally doing it wrong! This chapter was very loosely based on episode 4x3 of Gilmore Girls.**


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